The Votes are Tallied

Actually, there was only one vote. Good enough for me.

Seriously, I'd no intention of discontinuing my blog because as I've said before, it's great for me to go back in time, reading and seeing what was happening. See--I told you a good memory was overrated! I've got a blog for that. :-)

Here's something I'd rather forget--the decimation of our lovely yard. Apparently more weed killer was applied than typical, thus, not only do we have no weeds, we have no grass. This is but just one of the horrible patches. The applier of this overkill has been terminated, which does us no good. We've got to see the results of his mis-application for ages. Yesterday, while our gardener was here, I asked him about laying fresh sod before September, as the lawn spray people have promised if there is no improvement. Won't work Gail. New sod will die as well. What we need is rain, rain, and more rain. And you thought I was exaggerating didn't you?

At least I can console myself once I enter the house because I'm still madly in love with the changes inside. There are more exciting changes to come in the next month or two. Because the general contractor is doing such a marvelous job at Angela's home, Bruce scheduled a meeting with him on Monday evening for 6pm. As such, I decided to make a meal of vegetables, fruit, cheese, cracked pepper salami, and crackers. I prepared these trays in the afternoon.

The green bowl in the forefront is one Matthew gave his Grandma Peck many years ago. I've reclaimed it so that I can not only remember those times, but the little house on the hill amuses me each time I see it. What a lovely array of colors isn't it?

Bruce sketched a rough drawing of a trellis which will go two in two directions. One will be perpendicular to the pool, hopefully to disarm the sun just a bit on the sun room, with the other  extending parallel to the pool. At one end of this one there will be a roof with an outdoor ceiling fan! As well, he is keen on replacing the windows in the sun room with ones that are not only more energy efficient, but stronger as well. Lots and lots of discussion with Mark over construction details. Mostly I sat silently, if you can imagine. Guess what time he left? 9:00!!! Bedtime was less than an hour away, however we did manage to eat all of the fruit!

I forgot to tell you I had a paying job on Saturday. Friday morning Dana phoned asking if I would photograph the Church Street complex for a brochure. Of course I will! I was downtown by 7:30  to take advantage of the morning light, however, some of it was not so great. A second quick run later in the afternoon was enough to complete the task. Although they asked for five, by the time I received the email from the woman in South Florida putting it together, the request was for 11. Yesterday afternoon it took a while to attach 11 full sized versions of photographs to an email,  I'll tell you that much. I'd hardly ever noticed before how lovely this weather vane is. This was not one of their choices.

At the museum yesterday I met a very interesting British woman who also volunteers. Between the two of us we put together a bunch of glass cubes, all connected, for the gift shop. We crashed a lovely potluck lunch put together by the garden volunteers. No, actually they invited us to share and I'm delighted we did. Cindy is doing her best to get me take responsibility for the gift shop. I feel a bit like this crow--should I or shouldn't I.

I've just completed a sweet novella entitled, The Blind Contessa's Writing Machine. The author wove a tale of an impossible romance between a young married Contessa, who goes blind in her first year of marriage, with "Pellegrino Turri, has built the first typewriter proven to have worked in 1808, he also invented carbon paper (1806)."  Apparently he built the typewriter for her to write him letters without the aid of servants. Fanciful in places. Fresh, nonetheless.

Finally, a piece of great news! Cleaning my desk Tuesday morning, I came across the paperwork for my new baby camera. You may recall me mentioning that on vacation, a spot appeared on all my photos taken with the Panasonic. Now, that made me sad because typically with a fixed lens nothing can be done. But wait, something is going to be done! A new camera is the result of my conversation with an extremely helpful person at Panasonic. No, they can't be fixed, but they CAN be replaced. Excellent.